Phooli Adivasi (49) also tried to kill his anotherdaughter, Munna (15) before hanging himself. An Injured Munnahas been admitted to the district hospital, police said.

Another son, Vinod (16) was lucky as he was out whenthe incident took place. When he returned home, he found hismother Jamuni (45), brother Pramod (8) and sister Maya (10)lying dead in the pool of blood at their kuccha house.

The deceased had two other sons and a daughter, who areall married and live outside Tikamgarh district, Vinod toldpolice.

Vinod said that the family had not had meals for the lasttwo days, and this drove his father to take the extreme step.

"His financial condition was worrisome but he used towork," Tikamgarh Collector Akilesh Shrivastava told PTI,denying that Phooli committed the grisly act because ofstarvation.

"I sent Sub Divisional Magistrate A R Dhok there, whoinformed me that the deceased had food stuffs at his place,"he said.

On the other hand, Tikamgarh Zila Panchayat MemberChatarpal Singh and others claimed that there was no food inthe house.